One document matched: draft-ietf-trill-prob-05.txt

Differences from draft-ietf-trill-prob-04.txt


TRILL WG                                                       J. Touch 
Internet Draft                                                  USC/ISI 
Intended status: Informational                               R. Perlman 
Expires: March 2009                                                 Sun 
                                                     September 29, 2008 
                                    
 
                                      
           Transparent Interconnection of Lots of Links (TRILL):  
                    Problem and Applicability Statement 
                       draft-ietf-trill-prob-05.txt 


Status of this Memo 

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   This Internet-Draft will expire on March 29, 2009. 

Abstract 

   Current Ethernet (802.1) link layers use spanning tree protocols that 
   have a number of challenges. These protocols need to strictly avoid 
   loops, even temporary ones, during route propagation, because of the 
   lack of header loop detection support. Routing tends not to take full 
   advantage of alternate paths, or even non-overlapping pairwise paths 
   (in the case of spanning trees). This document addresses these 
   concerns and suggests that they can be addressed by applying modern 
 
 
 
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   network layer routing protocols at the link layer. This document 
   assumes that solutions would not address issues of scalability beyond 
   that of existing bridged (802.1) links, but that a solution would be 
   backward compatible with 802.1, including hubs, bridges, and their 
   existing plug-and-play capabilities. 

Table of Contents 

    
   1. Introduction...................................................2 
   2. The TRILL Problem..............................................3 
      2.1. Inefficient Paths.........................................4 
      2.2. Multipath Forwarding......................................5 
      2.3. Convergence and Safety....................................6 
      2.4. Stability of IP Multicast Optimization....................7 
      2.5. Other Ethernet Protocol Extensions........................7 
      2.6. Problems Not Addressed....................................8 
   3. Desired Properties of Solutions to TRILL.......................9 
      3.1. No Change to Link Capabilities............................9 
      3.2. Zero Configuration and Zero Assumption....................9 
      3.3. Forwarding Loop Mitigation...............................10 
      3.4. Spanning Tree Management.................................10 
      3.5. Multiple Attachments.....................................11 
      3.6. VLAN Issues..............................................11 
      3.7. Operational Equivalence..................................11 
      3.8. Optimizations............................................12 
      3.9. Internet Architecture Issues.............................12 
   4. Applicability.................................................13 
   5. Security Considerations.......................................14 
   6. IANA Considerations...........................................14 
   7. Acknowledgments...............................................14 
   8. References....................................................15 
      8.1. Normative References.....................................15 
      8.2. Informative References...................................15 
    
1. Introduction 

   Conventional Ethernet networks - known in the Internet as Ethernet 
   link subnets - have a number of attractive features, allowing hosts 
   and routers to relocate within the subnet without requiring 
   renumbering and are automatically configuring. The basis of the 
   simplicity of these subnets is the spanning tree, which although 
   simple and elegant, can have substantial limitations. With spanning 
   trees, the bandwidth across the subnet is limited because traffic 
   flows over a subset of links forming a single tree - or, with the 
   latest version of the protocol and significant additional 
   configuration, over a small number of superimposed trees. The oldest 
 
 
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   version of the spanning tree protocol can converge slowly when 
   bridges are frequently relocated. 

   The alternative to an Ethernet link subnet is often a network subnet. 
   Network subnets can use link-state routing protocols that allow 
   traffic to traverse least-cost paths rather than being aggregated on 
   a spanning tree backbone, providing higher aggregate capacity and 
   more resistance to link failures. Unfortunately, IP - the dominant 
   network layer technology - requires that hosts be renumbered when 
   relocated in different network subnets, interrupting network (e.g., 
   tunnels, IPsec) and transport (e.g., TCP, UDP) associations that are 
   in progress during the transition.  

   It is thus useful to consider a new approach that combines the 
   features of these two existing solutions, hopefully retaining the 
   desirable properties of each. Such an approach would develop a new 
   kind of bridge system that was capable of using network-style 
   routing, while still providing Ethernet service. It allows reuse of 
   well-understood network routing protocols to benefit the link layer. 

   This document describes the challenge of such a combined approach. 
   This problem is known as "Transparent Interconnection of Lots of 
   Links" or "TRILL". The remainder of this document makes minimal 
   assumptions about a solution to TRILL. 

2. The TRILL Problem 

   Ethernet subnets have evolved from 'thicknet' to 'thinnet' to twisted 
   pair with hubs to twisted pair with switches, becoming increasingly 
   simple to wire and manage. Each level has corresponding topology 
   restrictions; thicknet is inherently linear, whereas thinnet and hub-
   connected twisted pair have to be wired as a tree. Switches, added in 
   802.1D, allow network managers to avoid thinking in trees, where the 
   spanning tree protocol finds a valid tree automatically; 
   unfortunately, this additional simplicity comes with a number of 
   associated penalties [12]. 

   The spanning tree often results in inefficient use of the link 
   topology; traffic is concentrated on the spanning tree path, and all 
   traffic follows that path even when other more direct paths are 
   available. The addition in 802.1Q of support for multiple spanning 
   trees helps a little, but the use of multiple spanning trees requires 
   additional configuration, the number of trees is limited, and these 
   defects apply within each tree regardless. The spanning tree protocol 
   reacts to certain small topology changes with large effects on the 
   reconfiguration of links in use. Each of these aspects of the 

 
 
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   spanning tree protocol can cause problems for current link layer 
   deployments. 

2.1. Inefficient Paths 

   The Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) helps break cycles in a set of 
   interconnected bridges, but it also can limit the bandwidth among 
   that set and cause traffic to take circuitous paths. For example, in 
   a set of N nodes that are interconnected pair-wise along a ring, 
   spanning tree will, in effect, disable one physical link so that 
   connectivity is loop free. This will cause traffic between the pair 
   of nodes connected by that disabled link to have to go N-1 physical 
   hops around the entire remainder of the ring rather than take the 
   most efficient single hop path. Using modern routing protocols with 
   such a topology, no traffic should have to go more than N/2 hops. 

   For another example, consider the network shown in Figure 1, which 
   shows a number of bridges and their interconnecting links. End hosts 
   and routers are not shown; they would connect to the bridges that are 
   shown, labeled A-H. Note that the network shown has cycles that would 
   cause packet storms if hubs (repeaters) were used instead of 
   spanning-tree-capable bridges. One possible spanning tree is shown by 
   double lines. 

                                  A  
                                // \     C                                 
                               //   \   / \\   D                          
                              //     \ /   \\ //                          
                              B=======H===== E                             
                               \     //     || 
                                \   //      ||                             
                                 \ //       ||                             
                                  G----------F                             
                                                                    
             Figure 1 Bridged subnet with spanning tree shown 

   The spanning tree limits the capacity of the resulting subnet. Assume 
   that the links are 100 Mbps. Figure 2 shows how traffic from hosts on 
   A to hosts on C goes via the spanning tree path A-B-H-E-C (links 
   replaced with '1' in the figure); traffic from hosts on G to F go via 
   the spanning three path G-H-E-F (links replaced by '2' in the 
   figure). The link H-E is shared by both paths (alternating '1's and 
   '2's), resulting in an aggregate capacity for both A..C and G..F 
   paths of a total of 100 Mbps.  



 
 
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                                  A 
                                 1        C                                 
                                1          1                              
                               1            1                            
                              B1111111H121212E                             
                                     2       2 
                                    2        2                             
                                   2         2                             
                                  G          F                             
                                                                    
         Figure 2 Traffic from A..C (1) and G..F (2) share a link 

   If traffic from G to F were to go directly using full routing, e.g., 
   from G-F, both paths could have 100 Mbps each, and the total 
   aggregate capacity could be 200 Mbps (Figure 3). In this case, the H-
   F link carries only A-C traffic ('1's) and the G-F traffic ('2's) is 
   more direct. 

                                  A 
                                 1        C                                
                                1          1                              
                               1            1                            
                              B1111111H111111E                             
                                               
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                  G2222222222F                             
                                                                    
       Figure 3 Traffic from A..C (1) and G..F (2) with full routing 

   There are a number of features of modern layer 3 routing protocols 
   which would be beneficial if available at layer 2, but which cannot 
   practically be integrated into the spanning tree system such as 
   multipath routing discussed in Section 2.2 below. Layer 3 routing 
   typically optimizes paths between pairs of endpoints based on a cost 
   metric, conventionally based on bandwidth, hop count, latency, and/or 
   policy measures. 

2.2. Multipath Forwarding 

   The discussion above assumes that all traffic flowing from one point 
   to another follows a single path. Spanning tree reduces aggregate 
   bandwidth by forcing all such paths onto one tree, while link state 
   routing causes such paths to be cost metric optimal. However, 
   extensions to modern routing protocols enable even greater aggregate 
   bandwidth by permitting traffic flowing from one end point to another 
   to be sent over multiple, typically equal cost, paths. (Traffic sent 
 
 
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   over different paths will generally encounter different delays and 
   may be re-ordered with respect to traffic on another path. Thus 
   traffic must be divided into flows, such that re-ordering of traffic 
   between flows is not significant, and those flows allocated to 
   paths.) 

   Multipathing typically spreads the traffic more evenly over the 
   available physical links. The addition of multipathing to a link-
   state routed network would typically result in only a small 
   improvement in capacity for a network with roughly equal traffic 
   between all pairs of nodes, because in that situation traffic is 
   already fairly well dispersed. Conversely, multipathing can produce a 
   dramatic improvement in a link-state routed network where the traffic 
   between a small numbers of pairs of nodes dominates, because such 
   traffic can - under the right circumstances - be spread over multiple 
   paths that might otherwise be lightly loaded. 

2.3. Convergence and Safety  

   The spanning tree is dependent on the way a set of bridges are 
   interconnected, i.e., the link layer topology. Small changes in this 
   topology can cause large changes in the spanning tree. Changes in the 
   spanning tree can take time to propagate and converge, especially for 
   non-RSTP protocols. 

   One possible case occurs when one of the branches connected to the 
   root bridge fails, causing a large number of ports to block and 
   unblock before the network reconverges [9]. Consider a ring with a 
   stub as shown in Figure 4. 

                   R----A----B----C----D----E 
                        |                   | 
                        +-----F-----G-------+ 
         Figure 4 Ring with poor convergence under reconfiguration 

   If A is the root bridge, then the paths A->B->C->D and A->F->G->E are 
   the two open paths, while the D->E link is blocked in both 
   directions. If the A->B link fails, then E must unblock its port to D 
   for traffic to flow again, but it may require recomputation of the 
   entire tree through BPDUs (Bridge PDUs). Even worse, if R is root and 
   R or the A-R connection fails, BPDU updates related to the old and 
   new root can lead to a brief count-to-infinity event, and, if RSTP is 
   in use, can delay convergence for a few seconds. The original 802.1 
   spanning tree protocol can impose 30-second delays in re-establishing 
   data connectivity after a topology change to be sure a new topology 
   has stabilized and been fully propagated. 

 
 
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   The spanning tree protocol is inherently global to an entire layer 2 
   subnet; there is no current way to contain, partition, or otherwise 
   factor the protocol into a number of smaller, more stable subsets 
   that interact as groups. Contrast this with Internet routing, which 
   includes both intradomain and interdomain variants, split to provide 
   exactly that containment and scalability within a domain while 
   allowing domains to interact freely independent of what happens 
   within a domain.  

2.4. Stability of IP Multicast Optimization 

   Although it is a layer violation, it is common for high end bridges 
   to snoop on IP multicast control messages for the purpose of 
   optimizing the distribution of IP multicast data and of those control 
   messages [4].  

   When such snooping and optimization is performed by spanning tree-
   based bridges, it done at each bridge based on the traffic observed 
   on that bridge's ports. Changes in topology may reverse or otherwise 
   change the required forwarding ports of messages for a multicast 
   group. Bridges must re-learn the correct multicast forwarding from 
   the receipt of multicast control messages on new ports. Such control 
   messages, after their initial issuance to establish multicast 
   distribution state, are sent only to refresh such state, sometimes at 
   intervals of seconds, during which, if a bridging topology change has 
   occurred, multicast data may be misdirected and lost. 

   A solution based on link state routing, however, can form and 
   maintain a global view of the multicast group membership and 
   multicast router situation in a similar fashion to that in which it 
   maintains a global view of the status of links. Thus such a solution 
   can adjust the forwarding of multicast data and control traffic 
   immediately as it sees the link topology change. 

2.5. Other Ethernet Protocol Extensions 

   There have been a variety of 802.1 protocols beyond the initial 
   shared-media Ethernet variant, including: 

   o  802.1D - added bridges (i.e., switches) and a spanning tree 
      protocol (STP) (incorporates 802.1w, below) [6] 

   o  802.1w - extension for rapid reconvergence of the spanning tree 
      protocol (RTSP) [6] 

   o  802.1Q - added VLAN and priority support, where each link address 
      maps to one VLAN (incorporates 802.1v and 802.1s, below) [7] 
 
 
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   o  802.1v - added VLANs where segments map to VLANs based on link 
      address together with network protocol and transport port [7] 

   o  802.1s - added support for multiple spanning trees, up to a 
      maximum of 65, one per non-overlapping group of VLANs (MSTP) [7] 

   It is useful to note that these extensions do not address the issue 
   of independent, localized routing in a single spanning tree - which 
   is the focus of TRILL. This document presumes the above variants are 
   supported on the Ethernet subnet, i.e., that a TRILL solution would 
   not interfere with (i.e., would not affect) any of the above. 

2.6. Problems Not Addressed 

   There are other challenges to deploying Ethernet subnets that are not 
   addressed in this document. These include: 

   o  increased Ethernet link subnet scale 

   o  increased node relocation 

   o  Ethernet link subnet management protocol security 

   o  flooding attacks on a Ethernet link subnet 

   o  support for "provider" services such as Provider Bridges (802.1ad) 
      or Provider Backbone Bridges (802.1ah) 

   Solutions to TRILL need not support deployment of larger scales of 
   Ethernet link subnets than current broadcast domains can support 
   (e.g., around 1,000 end-hosts in a single bridged LAN of 100 bridges, 
   or 100,000 end-hosts inside 1,000 VLANs served by 10,000 bridges). 

   Similarly, solutions to TRILL need not address link layer node 
   migration, which can complicate the caches in learning bridges. 
   Similar challenges exist in the ARP protocol, where link layer 
   forwarding is not updated appropriately when nodes move to ports on 
   other bridges. Again, the compartmentalization available in network 
   routing, like that of network layer Autonomous Systems (ASes), can 
   help hide the effect of migration. That is a side effect, however, 
   and not a primary focus of this work. 

   Current link control plane protocols, including Ethernet link subnet 
   management (spanning tree) and link/network integration (ARP), are 
   vulnerable to a variety of attacks. Solutions to TRILL need not 
   address these insecurities. Similar attacks exist in the data plane, 
   e.g., source address spoofing, single address traffic attacks, 
 
 
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   traffic snooping, and broadcast flooding. TRILL solutions need not 
   address any of these issues, although it is critical that they do not 
   introduce new vulnerabilities in the process (see Section 5). 

3. Desired Properties of Solutions to TRILL 

   This section describes some of the desirable or required properties 
   of any system that would solve the TRILL problems, independent of the 
   details of such a solution. Most of these are based on retaining 
   useful properties of bridges, or maintaining those properties while 
   solving the problems listed in Section 2. 

3.1. No Change to Link Capabilities 

   There must be no change to the service that Ethernet subnets already 
   provide as a result of deploying a TRILL solution. Ethernet supports 
   unicast, broadcast, and multicast natively. Although network 
   protocols, notably IP, can tolerate link layers that do not provide 
   all three, it would be useful to retain the support already in place 
   [8]. Zeroconf, as well as existing bridge autoconfiguration, are 
   dependent on broadcast as well. 

   Current Ethernet ensures in-order delivery for frames of the same 
   priority and no duplicated frames, under normal operation (excepting 
   transients during reconfiguration). These criteria apply in varying 
   degrees to the different variants of Ethernet, e.g., basic Ethernet 
   up through basic VLAN (802.1Q) ensures that all frames between two 
   link addresses have both properties, but protocol/port VLAN (802.1v) 
   ensures this only for packets with the same protocol and port. There 
   are subtle implications to such a requirement. Bridge autolearning 
   already is susceptible to moving nodes between ports, because 
   previously learned associations between port and link address change. 
   A TRILL solution could be similarly susceptible to such changes. 

3.2. Zero Configuration and Zero Assumption 

   Both bridges and hubs are zero configuration devices; hubs having no 
   configuration at all, and bridges being automatically self-
   configured. Bridges are further zero-assumption devices, unlike hubs. 
   Bridges can be interconnected in arbitrary topologies, without regard 
   for cycles or even self-attachment. Spanning tree protocols (STPs) 
   remove the impact of cycles automatically, and port autolearning 
   reduces unnecessary broadcast of unicast traffic.  

   A TRILL solution should strive to have similar zero configuration, 
   zero assumption operation. This includes having TRILL solution 
   components automatically discover other TRILL solution components and 
 
 
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   organize themselves, as well as to configure that organization for 
   proper operation (plug-and-play). It also includes zero configuration 
   backward compatibility with existing bridges and hubs, which may 
   include interacting with some of the bridge protocols, such as 
   spanning tree. 

   VLANs add a caveat to zero configuration; a TRILL solution should 
   support automatic use of a default VLAN (like non-VLAN bridges), but 
   would undoubtedly require explicit configuration for VLANs where 
   bridges require such configuration. 

   Autoconfiguration extends to optional services, such as multicast 
   support via IGMP snooping, broadcast support via serial copy, and 
   supporting multiple VLANs.  

3.3. Forwarding Loop Mitigation 

   Spanning tree avoids forwarding loops by construction, although 
   transient loops can occur, e.g., via the temporarily undetected 
   appearance of new link connectivity or the loss of a sufficient 
   number of spanning tree control frames. Solutions to TRILL are 
   intended to use adapted network layer routing protocols which may 
   introduce transient loops during routing convergence. TRILL solutions 
   thus need support for mitigating the effect of such routing loops. 

   In the Internet, loop mitigation is provided by a decrementing hop 
   counts (TTL); in other networks, packets include a trace (sometimes 
   referred to as 'serialized' or 'unioned') of visited nodes [2]. In 
   addition, there may be localized consistency checks, such as whether 
   traffic in received on an unexpected interface, which indicates that 
   routing is in flux and such traffic should probably be discarded for 
   safety. These types of mechanisms limit the impact of loops or detect 
   them explicitly. Mechanisms with similar effect should be included in 
   TRILL solutions. 

3.4. Spanning Tree Management 

   In order to address convergence under reconfiguration and robustness 
   to link interruption (Section 2.2), participation in the spanning 
   tree (STP) must be carefully managed. The goal is to provide the 
   desired stability of the TRILL solution and of the entire Ethernet 
   link subnet, which may include bridges using STP. This may involve 
   TRILL solutions participating in the STP, where the protocol is used 
   for TRILL might dampen interactions with STP, or it may involve 
   severing the STP into separate STPs on 'stub' external Ethernet link 
   subnet segments. 

 
 
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   A requirement is that a TRILL solution must not require modifications 
   or exceptions to the existing spanning tree protocols (e.g., STP, 
   RSTP, MSTP). 

3.5. Multiple Attachments 

   In STP, a single node with multiple attachments to a single spanning 
   tree segment will always only get and send traffic over one of the 
   those attachment points. TRILL must manage all traffic, including 
   multicast and broadcast traffic, so as not to create feedback loops 
   on Ethernet segments with multiple TRILL attachment points. This 
   includes multiple attachments to a single TRILL node and attachments 
   to multiple TRILL nodes. 

3.6. VLAN Issues 

   A TRILL solution should support multiple VLANs (802.1Q, which 
   includes 802.1v and 802.1s). This may involve ignorance, just as many 
   bridge devices do not participate in the VLAN protocols. It may 
   alternately furnish direct VLAN support, e.g., by providing 
   configurable support for VLAN ignorant end stations equivalent to 
   that provided by 802.1Q non-provider bridges. 

3.7. Operational Equivalence 

   As with any extension to an existing architecture, it would be useful 
   - though not strictly necessary - to be able to describe or consider 
   a TRILL solution as equivalent to an existing link layer component. 
   Such equivalence provides a validation model for the architecture and 
   a way for users to predict the effect of the use of a TRILL solution 
   on a deployed Ethernet. In this case, 'user' refers to users of the 
   Ethernet protocol, whether at the host (data segments), bridge (ST 
   control segments), or VLAN (VLAN control). 

   This provides a sanity check, i.e., "we got it right if we can 
   exchange a TRILL solution with an X" (where "X" might be a single 
   bridge, a hub, or some other link layer abstraction). It does not 
   matter whether "X" can be implemented on the same scale as the 
   corresponding TRILL solution. It also does not matter if it can - 
   there may be utility to deploying the TRILL solution components 
   incrementally, in ways that a single "X" could not be installed. 

   For example, if a TRILL solution were equivalent to a single 802.1D 
   bridge, it would mean that the TRILL solution would - as a whole - 
   participate in the STP. This need not require that TRILL solution 
   would propagate STP, any more than a bridge need do so in its on-
   board control. It would mean that the solution would interact with 
 
 
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   BPDUs at the edge, where the solution would - again, as a whole - 
   participate as if a single node in the spanning tree. Note that this 
   equivalence is not required; a solution may act as if an 802.1 hub, 
   or may not have a corresponding equivalent link layer component at 
   all. 

3.8. Optimizations 

   There are a number of optimizations that may be applied to TRILL 
   solutions. These must be applied in a way that does not affect 
   functionality as a tradeoff for increased performance. Such 
   optimizations may address broadcast and multicast frame distribution, 
   VLAN support, and snooping of ARP and IPv6 neighbor discovery. 

   In addition, there may be optimizations which make the implementation 
   of a TRILL solution easier than roughly equivalent existing bridge 
   devices. For example, in many bridged LANs, there are topologies such 
   that central ("core") bridges which have both a greater volume of 
   traffic flowing through them as well as traffic to and from a larger 
   variety of end station than do non-core bridges. Thus means that such 
   core bridges need to learn a large number of end station addresses 
   and need to do lookups based on such addresses very rapidly. This 
   might require large high speed content addressable memory making 
   implementation of such core bridges difficult. Although a TRILL 
   solution need not provide such optimizations, it may reduce the need 
   for such large, high speed content addressable memories or provide 
   other similar optimizations. 

3.9. Internet Architecture Issues 

   TRILL solutions are intended to have no impact on the Internet 
   network layer architecture. In particular, the Internet and higher 
   layer headers should remain intact when traversing a TRILL solution, 
   just as they do when traversing any other link subnet technologies. 
   This means that the IP TTL field cannot be co-opted for forwarding 
   loop mitigation, as it would interfere with the Internet layer 
   assuming that the link subnet was reachable with no changes in TTL 
   (Internet TTLs are changed only at routers, as per RFC 1812, and even 
   if IP TTL were considered, TRILL is expected to support non-IP 
   payloads, and so requires a separate solution anyway) [2]. 

   TRILL solutions should also have no impact on Internet routing or 
   signaling, which also means that broadcast and multicast, both of 
   which can pervade an entire Ethernet link subnet, must be able to 
   transparently pervade a TRILL solution. Changing how either of these 
   capabilities behaves would have significant effects on a variety of 

 
 
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   protocols, including RIP (broadcast), RIPv2 (multicast), ARP 
   (broadcast), IPv6 neighbor discovery (multicast), etc. 

   Note that snooping of network layer packets may be useful, especially 
   for certain optimizations. These include snooping multicast control 
   plane packets (IGMP) to tune link multicast to match the network 
   multicast topology, as is already done in existing smart switches 
   [3][5]. This also includes snooping IPv6 neighbor discovery messages 
   to assist with governing TRILL solution edge configuration, as is the 
   case in some smart learning bridges [10]. Other layers may similarly 
   be snooped, notably ARP packets, for similar reasons for IPv4 [14]. 

4. Applicability 

   As might be expected, TRILL solutions are intended to be used to 
   solve the problems described in Section 2. However, not all such 
   installations are appropriate environments for such solutions. This 
   section outlines the issues in the appropriate use of these 
   solutions. 

   TRILL solutions are intended to address problems of path efficiency 
   and concentration, inability to multipath, and path stability within 
   a single Ethernet link subnet. Like bridges, individual TRILL 
   solution components may find other TRILL solution components within a 
   single Ethernet link subnet and aggregate into a single TRILL 
   solution.  

   TRILL solutions are not intended to span separate Ethernet link 
   subnets interconnected by network layer (e.g., router) devices, 
   except via link layer tunnels, where such tunnels render the distinct 
   subnet undetectably equivalent from a single Ethernet link subnet. 

   A currently open question is whether a single Ethernet link subnet 
   should contain only one TRILL solution instance, either of necessity 
   of architecture or utility. Multiple TRILL solutions, like Internet 
   ASes, may allow TRILL routing protocols to be partitioned in ways 
   that help their stability, but this may come at the price of needing 
   the TRILL solutions to participate more fully as nodes (each modeling 
   a bridge) in the Ethernet link subnet STP. Each architecture solution 
   should decide whether multiple TRILL solutions are supported within a 
   single Ethernet link subnet and mechanisms should be included to 
   enforce whatever decision is made. 

   TRILL solutions need not address scalability limitations in bridged 
   subnets. Although there may be scale benefits of other aspects of 
   solving TRILL problems, e.g., of using network layer routing to 

 
 
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   provide stability under link changes or intermittent outages, this is 
   not a focus of this work. 

   As also noted earlier, TRILL solutions are not intended to address 
   security vulnerabilities in either the data plane or control plane of 
   the link layer. This means that TRILL solutions should not limit 
   broadcast frames, ARP requests, or spanning tree protocol messages 
   (if such are interpreted by the TRILL solution or solution edge). 

5. Security Considerations 

   TRILL solutions should not introduce new vulnerabilities compared to 
   traditional bridged subnets.  

   TRILL solutions are not intended to be a solution to Ethernet link 
   subnet vulnerabilities, including spoofing, flooding, snooping, and 
   attacks on the link control plane (STP, flooding the learning cache) 
   and link-network control plane (ARP). Although TRILL solutions are 
   intended to provide more stable routing than STP, this stability is 
   limited to performance, and the subsequent robustness is intended to 
   address non-malicious events. 

   There may be some side-effects to the use of TRILL solutions that can 
   provide more robust operation under certain attacks, such as those 
   interrupting or adding link service, but TRILL solutions should not 
   be relied upon for such capabilities. 

   Finally, TRILL solutions should not interfere with other protocols 
   intended to address these vulnerabilities, such as those under 
   development to secure IPv6 neighbor discovery [1].  

6. IANA Considerations 

   This document requires no IANA actions.  

   This section should be removed by the RFC Editor prior to final 
   publication. 

7. Acknowledgments 

   Portions of this document are based on documents that describe a 
   preliminary solution, and on a related network layer solution 
   [11][13][15]. Donald Eastlake III provided substantial text and 
   comments. Additional comments and feedback were provided by the 
   members of the IETF TRILL WG, in which this document was developed. 

   This document was prepared using 2-Word-v2.0.template.dot. 
 
 
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8. References 

8.1. Normative References 

   None. 

8.2. Informative References 

   [1]   Arkko, J., J. Kempf, B. Sommerfield, B. Zill, P. Nikander, 
         "Secure Neighbor Discovery (SeND)", RFC 3971 (Proposed 
         Standard), Mar. 2005. 

   [2]   Baker, F., "Requirements for IP Version 4 Routers", RFC 1812 
         (Proposed Standard), Jun. 1995. 

   [3]   Cain, B., S. Deering, I. Kouvelas, B. Fenner, A. Thyagarajan, 
         "Internet Group Management Protocol, Version 3", RFC 3376 
         (Proposed Standard), Oct. 2002. 

   [4]   Christensen, M., Kimball, K., and F. Solensky, "Considerations 
         for Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) and Multicast 
         Listener Discovery (MLD) Snooping Switches", RFC 4541, May 
         2006. 

   [5]   Haberman, B., J. Martin, "Multicast Router Discovery", RFC 4286 
         (Proposed Standard), Dec. 2005. 

   [6]   IEEE 802.1D bridging standard, "IEEE Standard for Local and 
         metropolitan area networks: Media Access Control (MAC) 
         Bridges", (incorporates 802.1w), Jun. 2004. 

   [7]   IEEE 802.1Q VLAN standard, "IEEE Standards for Local and 
         metropolitan area networks: Virtual Bridged Local Area 
         Networks", (incorporates 802.1v and 802.1s), May 2006. 

   [8]   Karn, P., (ed.), C. Bormann, G. Fairhurst, D. Grossman, R. 
         Ludwig, J. Mahdavi, G. Montenegro, J. Touch, L. Wood, "Advice 
         for Internet Subnetwork Designers", RFC-3819 / BCP 89 (Best 
         Current Practice), Jul. 2004. 

   [9]   Myers, A., T.E. Ng, H. Zhang, "Rethinking the Service Model: 
         Scaling Ethernet to a Million Nodes", Proc. ACM Third Workshop 
         on Hot Topics in Networks (HotNets-III), Mar. 2004. 

   [10]  Narten, T., E. Nordmark, W. Simpson, H. Soliman, "Neighbor 
         Discovery for IP version 6 (IPv6)", RFC 4861 (Draft Standard), 
         Sep. 2007. 
 
 
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   [11]  Perlman, R., "RBridges: Transparent Routing", Proc. Infocom 
         2005, Mar. 2004. 

   [12]  Perlman, R., "Interconnection: Bridges, Routers, Switches, and 
         Internetworking Protocols", Addison Wesley, Chapter 3, 1999. 

   [13]  Perlman, R., J. Touch, A. Yegin, "RBridges: Transparent 
         Routing," (expired work in progress), Apr. 2004 - May 2005. 

   [14]  Plummer, D., "Ethernet Address Resolution Protocol: Or 
         converting network protocol addresses to 48.bit Ethernet 
         address for transmission on Ethernet hardware", RFC 826 / STD 
         37 (Standard), Nov. 1982. 

   [15]  Touch, J., Y. Wang, L. Eggert, G. Finn, "A Virtual Internet 
         Architecture", ISI Technical Report ISI-TR-570, Presented at 
         the Workshop on Future Directions in Network Architecture 
         (FDNA) 2003 at Sigcomm 2003, March 2003. 

Author's Addresses 

   Joe Touch 
   USC/ISI 
   4676 Admiralty Way 
   Marina del Rey, CA 90292-6695 
   U.S.A. 
       
   Phone: +1 (310) 448-9151 
   Email: touch@isi.edu 
   URL:   http://www.isi.edu/touch 
    
    
   Radia Perlman 
   Sun Microsystems 
   16 Network Circle 
   umpk16-161 
   Menlo Park, CA 94025 
   U.S.A. 
       
   Email: Radia.Perlman@sun.com 
 

Copyright Statement 

   Copyright (C) The IETF Trust (2008). 


 
 
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